How Can They Build This Guitar for £229? Stainless Frets, Locking Tuners, Luminlay Dots and more....

I’ve been looking at the Floyd Rose version of this but not seen any reliable demos of them. This is very helpful, thanks John 👍

As those pickups as bright as the demos make em seem?
I'm really digging the sound!

You might just include the name of the company you're highlighting somewhere in the description. I know you mentioned it at the beginning but you were mumbling. I did a quick search of what I thought I heard but no-go.

The tone you have on those chords is very keyboard adjacent, nice!

how can they afford to sell guitars at that price?

You'd fit in so we'll with a new retro wave band like the midnight for example 👍

Either via slave labor, OR these builds are subsidized by slave labor🤪

Looks great. It’s got a Kiesel vibe that I’m digging. And I may be in the minority but the headstock with the red logo looks pretty cool.

That's a lot guitar with good Specs for an affordable price.

If it's modern Indo I think generally you can expect a great instrument at any price.

Oh that looks nice, great price holy 👍🏻

With SLAVE workers, that´s how they can build that and still make a profit

Forced prisoner labor?

A guitar is a cheap object in terms of the resources needed to create one. Pickups cost very little unless you're going for Alumitones or similar, and I assume the investment in tooling and design is being paid off there. The rest of it in material cost with CNC machines is trivial. In the UK it would be more difficult because we lack a skilled workforce in this area, and we have minimum wages. Having said that, wages in China rise by between 15 and 20% a year because they know that if they want their own people to be able to buy the things they make those people must have money. This is an economic issue that has been ignored for the past 14 years in the West which explains quite a lot. Simply put guitars are not expensive to make and do not have expensive elements embedded in them. All that's happened is that people have begun to exploit Eastern expertise, something that will continue to happen until we decide it might be worth teaching skills to people in the West. Skills other than bullshit that is. I construct my own guitars - I don't make them, I'm not that talented with wood - and it's hardly rocket science. I have a range of guitars from Gibsons and Fenders to much cheaper brands which I have modified myself. I can't tell the difference between the brand name guitars and not brand name guitars when playing them. People are too invested in the name on the headstock, when they should be invested in learning how to apply and enjoying themselves.

Looks like something IYV out of Vietnam makes. I know many guitar companies get IYV or other guitars branded as their house brand. They use a lot of CNC in the manufacturing process to cut costs. The IYV guitars are incredible values for the money.

Ok, but play it it through a Line 6 Spider III 🤔

Set Up work should be expected on any guitar sub $500

The answer to the question is two words. Captive population. Nobody would do the amount of work to produce something like this for pennies an hour if they had a choice. That’s just reality. It’s also a paradox.
The other side is that they wouldn’t even get pennies an hour if they didn’t. I don’t have the answer, but I cannot feel good about it either.

@prs check out those recessed electronic covers on this budget guitar - pretty cool, right?

This has better specs than that new Fender American Ultra 2 that they were advertising everywhere some weeks ago.

We don't trust you anymore. Too much bullshits.

I bought the Floyd version a couple of months ago. Likewise the fret were rough. No big deal if you don't mind masking up the fingerboard and polishing the crowns, probably an hour of work and it's still amazing value for money.

Perfect knobs placement too

I think there is another question: how can they build guitars like that and charge 2k?!

What is it?

It is easy when you don't pay much for labour and don't spend much time polishing it. These companies also usually sell for a really low margin, because they are trying to breakthrough into the market.

looks like an Ibanez I was playing in the shop the other day.. $2000 i think

How do they build a guitar with those specs for so cheap? Because those specs aren’t really expensive for the manufacturer to add to the build of a guitar. We’ve just been conditioned by manufacturers to believe that the specs cost more so that we pay more. Nice playing BTW.

As expected, no lefties. It looks like they do one lefty out of their whole range. Their virtuous policy of offering great gear for starters is obviously discriminatory.

What is the brand?

Luminlay on my Ibanez Q are useless. I added white dots.

Lol at using Billies knife from predator to open a box 😆

I do not see a link or the brand name of this guitar ???

Made In?

I have the 7 string mutliscale version of this. I had to level/crown/polish the frets and now it plays really nicely. The bridge material is a little on the soft side but if you're not making loads of adjustments it's no issue at all. The downside is the pickups which are obviously very cheap. Main issue is they are very microphonic. I might replace them at some point but they are soap bars which limits the replacement options a lot.

It's a lot of guitar for your money and if you're happy to do fret work yourself it's a real bargain. People also seem to really like the look of it. One day I will put a veneer over the headstock.

Hi John what's the wireless system you're using .
Thanks in advance

JNC your one of my favorite guitar players and your comment is daily spot on and a joy. Any time you want to tell us about a bit of kit, go ahead, we love it and know you always shoot straight. They will be lining up for you and I wanted to endorse you in advance so you can continue to be 'you' . Thats what we all love, you JNC, your the best !

Di che chitarra si tratta

A matching head stock would fit so much more, since the body finish is really beautiful. Maybe they'll make a 7 string floyd version with matching heatsock in the future. Great instrument nonetheless and great video too :)

I've long said that very cheap guitars are always rubbish; but it would be interesting to spend an hour polishing the frets and changing the strings on this one, and to then compare it against a high-end instrument. Might be a surprise.

I didn't hear the brand of the guitar.

Good thumbnail John, you're really conveying your puzzlement.

I forgot to say in my previous comment I also had significant issues with the nut. To say it had nut slots would be a stretch. I mean they'd made some kind of attempt at it I guess. The point being that with the guitars at this price range there is a huge variability in QC. It's the luck of the draw how well yours turned out. So I'd say these aren't a good buy for a beginner because there will likely be issues that a beginner won't even realise, let alone be able to fix themselves. These things are best for people who have the tools and know-how to remedy fret work, setup etc. Yes you do get a lot for your money though and they're well worth looking at if you have the ability to work on them.

head stack upside down they should stop drinking !

How can they produce it so cheap? Pretty simple, poverty wages, no employment rights and no H & S regulations

I have the same guitar with the Floyd on it... it's absolutely incredible.

is the knife made of tonemetal?

What is the make and model

Slavery, mate.That's how.

Wow, you really stepped in a pile of it with the JHS shit show you posted. Your ignorance of the business is second only to your hubris. I just blocked your channel.